Snow

He was wrong. The Princess did, glowed golden sitting on her horse, dressed in furs and jewels, hair streaming out around her with diamonds woven through it. Her eyes were enormous and dark, soft with an emotion he couldn't name, and her skin wasn't pitted from disease or gray from hunger. Her cheeks were flushed a gentle pink and the rest of her, forehead to the slash of skin that showed where her furs overlapped, was the softest, warmest color he'd ever seen. He'd never seen anyone so beautiful.

She smiled then, a gentle curve of her mouth. "Stand up and tell me who you are."

He did. "My name is Joseph," he said. "I'm a woodsman, Your Highness." Looking at her was making him dizzy so he bowed to her and then turned, bowed to the person riding beside her.

He knew at once it was her brother. They did not have similar faces--her brother's was sharper, longer, his eyes bright where hers were dark -- but there was no way they could be anything but siblings. He had the same glow she did, the same look in his eyes.

"You're a hunter," the Prince said. His voice was low and soft, as golden as his skin. The woodsman actually felt his words rush over him, soothing and exciting at the same time. He wondered if he was about to die. Hunting was illegal except for those of noble birth and blood.

He looked at the Prince. The Prince was watching him, eyes bright.

Joseph nodded, and the Prince smiled.

"We won't keep you," the Princess said, and her voice was softer now, warm and low, a caress of words. Joseph looked at her and knew he'd do anything to have her speak to him in that voice again. "Do you live close by?"

"In the village," he said. "In the house with the mark of the stag on the door." He flushed then, saw how the Prince and Princess had turned away from him, were looking at each other. He wanted them to look at him again but knew, somehow, that they wouldn't. He walked home.

"I'll send a summons," the Prince said on the ride back.

"For me?" the Princess said.

"Greedy," the Prince said, laughter in his voice, and smiled at her in perfect understanding.

***

Joseph was summoned to see the Princess, but before he saw her he was told he had to meet with the Prince. He rubbed his sweaty hands along his best trousers and nodded, watched the guards who had escorted him into the castle stare at him blankly, their eyes giving nothing away.

The Prince was waiting for him in his rooms. "I'm shocked she wants to see you," he said. "But I can deny her nothing. She's my sister, my heart, and I love her. But she is not to be trifled with.

Do you understand?"

"I would never--" Joseph said, aghast. "Not ever, Your Highness. I don't know why she would want to talk to me. I don't know what she wants from me."

"But you have hopes," the Prince said, and smiled. "I see them written all over your face."

"I don't--"Joseph said and then broke off, silenced as the Prince moved forward and touched the back of his hand to Joseph's face.

"You realize," he said, "that I want to make my sister happy. It's very important that she be happy."

Afterwards, he helped Joseph straighten his clothes before he went to see the Princess. "That was…you are," Joseph said and reached eager hands out, swept them down across the Prince's golden skin. His eyes shone hot and longing. "I want to stay with you."

"So sweet," the Prince said and yawned, stretching naked into Joseph's hands. He watched Joseph's eyes heat more and then smiled quickly, a sharp flash of teeth. He moved away and said, "She's waiting for you."

The Princess sat surrounded by attendants when Joseph walked in. He knelt down and touched his head to the floor. "I'm so glad you came," she said, her voice rich and warm. Knowing. "You may rise."

He did, and looked at her. She smiled and told her attendants to leave her. She said she had to discuss a hunt she was planning for her brother.

"It has to be perfect," she said as her attendants were leaving. "I only want the very best for my brother."

In the silence of the room she watched him, the space between them. "I suppose you thought you didn't want to leave him," she said, and her voice was still rich and warm.

"I don't--I don't understand," Joseph said.

"Of course you do," the Princess said, and leaned back against the chaise she was reclining on. "I wouldn't have summoned you if you didn't." She closed her eyes and ran one fingertip down her neck, between the valley of her breasts, down over her stomach. Her skirts parted. Her skin was as golden as her brother's, as smooth.

"Come here," she said.

Joseph did.

He was sent away afterwards, dismissed as she arched and stretched and told him he was wonderful, powerful, and that he should not forget to close the door behind him when he left.